Ball-and-socket joints of this type have been known, in principle, from the state of the art and have been used, e.g., as tie rod joints in motor vehicle steering arrangements. In addition, they are also used in many areas of vehicle engineering. Corresponding to their design, they are used such that they can absorb mainly forces in the radial load direction. This type of installation is due to the fact that such balland-socket joints of this type are sensitive to axial load, especially pulse-like axial impact load. Such an axial impact load may lead to damage to the spherical bearing surface with high consequential moments of friction within the ball-and-socket joint. Such damaged joints compromise the driving behavior and the driving safety of the vehicles affected.
High pulse-like loads may have different causes. They occur mainly as a consequence of incorrect mounting within the framework of service activities, in which the ball-and-socket joints are brought into desired positions by, e.g., blows with a hammer. Moreover, pulsed loads in the axial direction may occur under crowded space conditions due to the joint housing striking adjacent chassis parts, e.g., in the case of full spring deflection. The damaged joints resulting from the axial stresses make replacement necessary and therefore they ultimately cause increased maintenance costs for the vehicle in question.